Chapter 1407: Mining

All the mining cultivators were gathered on the rocky sand pit outside of the mine, then ordered to not move a single muscle or else they would be killed without pardon.

The wraith cultivators had taken full control of the mine and began to investigate the reason behind the riot.

One minute later.

Long pieces of dark green jade with natural cloud patterns were laid neatly on the ground.

“Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade, how unexpected for this barren mine to have such a good thing”

A wraith cultivator with tanned skin commented.

He was wearing a crimson-colored mask with several lines of black markings to signify a wrathful cruel expression.

“Sir, the mine’s manager had been brought here” someone reported.

“Oh?”

This cultivator turned around to take a look.

Two of his men had been restrained and led a short old man in front of him.

The short old man prostrated on the ground, trembling and said: “Lord Xue, this subordinate isn’t useless. This one simply didn’t expect that Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade would be dug up, and since money moves the heart, the situation simply couldn’t be controlled”

The wraith who was referred to as lord Xue nodded: “Indeed, when these mining cultivators saw Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade, they would definitely go completely mad”

He patted the short old man’s shoulder and consoled: “I can understand your hardship”

The short old man sighed in relief, about to say something else, only to have his head lifted up.

Lord Xue held his head in one hand and clenched the other into a fist, mercilessly striking his body.

Pffft!

The short old man’s body was immediately struck, turning into a mass of blood and was sent flying a long distance. During flight, the mass scattered into a mixture of white and red substances that dyed the floor of the mine entrance red.

The wraith called Xue took off the short old man’s yaksha mask, threw his head to the ground, then spoke with disdain: “It’s bad enough that you failed your job, but you actually had the courage to even make excuses”

He created some water and washed his hand like nothing happened.

Complete silence.

The mining cultivators who were still dissatisfied now didn’t even dare to complain under their breaths.

After a long while, lord Xue finally finished washing his hand, dried it off with a white towel, then ordered: “Get me the five mining squad captains”

“Understood”

The wraiths went among the mining cultivators and took four people out.

Gu Qing Shan found, to his surprise, that he was actually a captain.

Under a group of wraiths’ scrutinizing gaze, he and three other mining cultivators were forced in front of lord Xue.

One of the wraiths reported: “Sir, four of them had been brought here, the fifth squad’s captain is already dead, his corpse smashed into a pulp and is still within the mine. Should we carry him out to examine as well?”

“If that squad captain is dead and so be it, I’m not interested in looking at his dead body”

“Yes sir”

Lord Xue then asked: “I am interested in something else, how many people died in the mine?”

“A total of 71 people, please take a look, sir”

A jade tag was presented to lord Xue.

“So much manpower was killed, tch” lord Xue spoke in irritation.

He took the jade tag and carefully examined it.

Everyone else silently waited.

Gu Qing Shan snuck a glance and noticed that several red threads had appeared from lord Xue’s body, appearing on the bodies of the four squad leaders.

—–these were the threads of fate that only he could see!

Gu Qing Shan silently reached his hand out to touch the thread and sensed it.

A sensation of death could be felt from the thread.

This person is planning to kill the four mining squad captains!

And I’m one of them.

What now?

While Gu Qing Shan quickly pondered this, lord Xue had already walked in front of them.

Lord Xue looked at the four squad captains, asking: “Who is the first squad captain, old Ninth Zhao?”

“I am” a lanky cultivator replied.

“Every mining cultivators of the first squad is dead, but you’re alive—–”

Lord Xue slowly spoke and made a gesture with his hand.

Old Ninth Zhao was cut in half from a distance, falling dead on the spot.

Lord Xue waved his hand to take back the man’s mask, then curtly asked: “Who is the second squad captain, Huang Third?”

“Sir, I am”

Next to Gu Qing Shan, another person replied.

The cultivator worriedly looked at lord Xue with one hand on his stomach.

As Gu Qing Shan glanced over, he saw a not inconsiderable wound on Huang Third’s stomach that was still bleeding.

Lord Xue changed his tone and said: “The second squad of mining cultivators are all alive, you did very well”

Hearing that, Huang Third was delighted and said: “Sir, when the riot began, I ordered them all to form a defensive formation and held down a narrow mine shaft, I also stayed at the front to make sure that everyone survives the entire carnage”

Lord Xue praised: “Strong and resourceful, volunteering to be in front, well done”

He made a gesture.

Before the delight on Huang Third’s face managed to fade, his head already detached from his body, the bloody head rolling far away.

Complete silence.

The mining cultivators all looked at lord Xue with confusion.

Lord Xue seemed to still not care at all, taking Huang Third’s yaksha mask and shook his head: “You were wounded too heavily, you’re essentially a cripple now”

“The mine is a busy place, there’s no place for useless people”

He walked in front of Gu Qing Shan.

Sensing the killing intent from him, Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and bowed:

“Sir”

“Hm, you are the captain of the third squad, Chen Fifth?” lord Xue lightly moved his hand and asked.

“It is I, sir. This time’s riot wasn’t anyone else’s fault sir, it was all my fault” Gu Qing Shan spoke up first.

Lord Xue’s fingers stopped.

“Your fault?” he asked.

“Yes sir, it was all because of me” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Lord Xue’s expression couldn’t be seen at all through his crimson yaksha mask.

He stared straight down at Gu Qing Shan and asked: “This riot occurred because of the unexpected discovery of the Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade vein, how was that related to you?”

Gu Qing Shan sighed and said: “I can’t lie to you, sir. In truth, I was the first person to discover the Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade vein”

“Oh? You seem quite fortunate” lord Xue replied, his voice didn’t suggest any sort of strong emotions one way or another.

Gu Qing Shan continued: “It wasn’t because of luck, I am telling you the truth, sir. Around half a month ago, I’ve been able to sense things—— I discovered that I was able to sense the unique aura of the ores in the mine”

“But I couldn’t believe it at first, after all, my Guise Hex was only [Mineral Location]. It wasn’t until many days later that I noticed this ability had nothing to do with the Guise Hex, it was an ability that I awakened myself”

Lord Xue said: “Continue”

Gu Qing Shan said: “After a while of sensing and practicing, I found that my ability was growing increasingly stronger, almost to the point of being able to pinpoint the locations of various ores and minerals”

“After that, I dug up the first piece of Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade, which brought about this riot”

Lord Xue fell silent.

Without knowing it himself, he had already clenched his hands tightly.

The ground is the foundation of a world, the place which houses the most Origin power of that world, capable of nurturing countless precious and powerful minerals. But the underground is a complete mess that couldn’t be explored using inner sight, so the only method even now was to dig it out.

And yet he awakened an ability to detect underground minerals?

Lord Xue suddenly felt a bit uncertain and turned to the other mining cultivators, shouting: “Was what he said the truth?”

The mining cultivators were all completely clueless.

Everyone only remembered that they were fighting over Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade, who would remember how it all started?

Not to mention, during the riot, those who managed to dig the jade up first were all key targets to be stolen from, so they were already more or less killed off.

Seeing how clueless they all were, lord Xue finally couldn’t restrain himself any longer and catch Gu Qing Shan’s hand, giving his orders: “Men, lead the way, we’re heading into the mines!”

Gu Qing Shan appeared fearful and shaken as he asked: “Sir, what are we going to do?”

Lord Xue’s tone was a bit impatient as he answered: “No need to fear, I’m merely going to confirm what you said, go!”

He brought with him two rows of subordinates as he hurriedly pulled Gu Qing Shan into the mine.

The corpses inside the mine hadn’t been cleaned up, so the ground was still filled with marks of blood and bodies that gave off a terrible smell.

However, no one was bothered by that as they headed deeper into the mines.

Lord Xue asked his subordinates: “How much was found in this Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade vein?”

“Sir, in the Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade vein found this time, a total of 327 kilos were found, they have all been accounted for”

“Nothing out of the ordinary was found?”

“Nothing at all”

“Very good” lord Xue turned to Gu Qing Shan and asked: “Your name was Chen Fifth?”

“Yes sir, I am” Gu Qing Shan nodded.

“This mine was originally a barren mine, so if you were truly the one who discovered the Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade vein, this Xue Nu [1]will not blame you, instead, you will have made a great contribution—— but now, you need to prove a certain fact: that you truly have the ability to find mineral veins” lord Xue told him.

He let go of Gu Qing Shan’s hand.

Gu Qing Shan walked out, stood in the middle of the mine and silently activated the improved version of [Mineral Location]: [Mineral Pinpoint].

Out of nowhere, a sense of heavenly understanding appeared in his mind.

Gu Qing Shan noticed that he was able to clearly sense the location, type, and quantity of various mineral ores around himself, although the range wasn’t too great.

He could only sense the mineral distribution within a radius of 20 miles.

That was enough.

Gu Qing Shan took a few steps forward, then said: “Sir, there is a small spirit stone vein here”

“Oh?”

Lord Xue replied, then gestured to his subordinates.

They all took out their own pickaxes and began digging where Gu Qing Shan had pointed.

“How deep do you think it is?” lord Xue asked.

“Around 20 meters” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Seeing how confident he was, lord Xue nodded: “Good”

Time slowly passed.

The white-grey rocks were slowly dug out into a mining strip, where a mass of spirit energy could be abruptly sensed flowing out.

One of the subordinates loudly reported from inside the mining strip: “Sir, we’ve made the discovery!”

“Get out of the way, let me take a look!”

Lord Xue shouted, pushed everyone aside, then hurriedly came in to examine it.

A moment of silence.

“Ahahahaha!” lord Xue abruptly began laughing like mad.

He returned, then patted Gu Qing Shan’s shoulder: “Brother Chen Fifth, you truly are fortunate”

Gu Qing Shan stood still, appearing a bit awkward.

He hesitantly said: “This little one only knows how to dig for minerals, please teach me more, sir”

[1] the ‘Nu’ in his name suggests that he’s a servant, or property of someone else, essentially a slave. This isn’t the same ‘Nu’ in Shannu’s name, which means ‘girl’